This application is related, generally and in various embodiments, to a heat spreader. To meet the requirements for higher and higher device densities, the physical size of many transformers continues to be reduced. As the physical size of a transformer is reduced, the ability to effectively dissipate heat from the transformer becomes increasingly difficult.
In general, depending on the design of the transformer, the coil typically dissipates approximately 30% to 70% of the heat generated by the transformer and the magnetic core dissipates the remainder through a heat sink. Thus, a significant portion of the generated heat is typically sunk through the magnetic core to the heat sink. To date, the design of heat sinks used to dissipate heat from transformers has tended to focus on maximizing the area of contact between the heat sink and the magnetic core, with little or no regard given to maximizing the area of contact between the heat sink and the coil, if any. Because the thermal conductivity of common heat sink material can be approximately fifty times greater than the thermal conductivity of common magnetic core material, the heat sinking capacity of known heat sinks is not adequate for many new transformer applications.